The Index recorded a month-on-month growth rate of 2%, similar to last year’s growth rate and building on a strong May 2016, when the Index recorded its highest year-on-year growth rate in 11 months.

The average basket value of goods purchased online was also up, from £75.11 in June 2015, to £80.34 a year later (excluding travel sales) – continuing a general trend we have been tracking so far in 2016.

In mobile retail, the growth of sales made on tablets continued to nosedive, with year-on-year growth at just 0.4%.

This is the lowest figure registered since monitoring began in 2013. Conversely, sales on smartphones grew 69% year-on-year, following extremely strong growth of 117% in June 2015.

IMRG chief information officer Tina Spooner said that while the Index results reveal a strong performance in June, it is too early to say whether the Brexit vote will have any long-term impact on the UK’s online retail sector.

“However, early signs from a recent IMRG poll of retailers found that around two-thirds of online merchants saw a slowdown in sales in the few days after the EU referendum, with most reporting sales appearing to recover to “normal” levels again afterwards,” she added.

“Smartphones continue to take an increasing share of mobile commerce with year-on-year growth rates also surging ahead. Conversely, sales completed on tablet devices flat-lined during June, which effectively means that all growth in mobile commerce came via smartphones last month”.

Bhavesh Unadkat, management consultant in Retail Customer Engagement Design at Capgemini said: “It’s widely agreed that consumer confidence is falling, and this is something that is being heard from retailers across a myriad of sectors. As a result, it’s great to see that, both in the run up to the referendum and in the immediate aftermath, online sales growth remained strong.

“These figures obviously don’t encapsulate the entire Brexit fall out, and the full impact of the referendum is something that we will not be able to wholly analyse for a number of months. In the meantime, retailers need to continue to focus on ensuring they give their customers every reason to shop with them.”